Hotel Da Vinci, Milan

Well what an adventure! We only just made it to Milan after almost missing our flight. We had checked in our luggage and were having a great time waiting for our flight when the fabulous Alitalia staff member who checked us in, and remembered who we were, came running to find us to get us on the plane. They had changed the gates and we hadn’t heard the announcement. They were just about to unload our luggage, so it was a close call. It was a bit embarrassing being the last on board.

On arriving in Milan we had planned to take a train to our accommodation but it would have been two train trips so we decided to take a taxi. We enquired where to get a taxi from and as we were walking out to them, we were approached and told to go to the counter where our ride would be organized. Little did we realise that the guy talking to us about the taxi was actually a private car hire representative and we were getting ripped off – massively. €95 later and we arrived at our accommodation, Hotel Da Vinci. We certainly learnt a valuable and expensive lesson. One we would not repeat.

I must say the Hotel Da Vinci is very different to the Villa Pantheon in Paris. Huge room and very modern, with a touch of quirky, compared to the very traditional hotel we just came from. A great big purple hotel and I couldn’t get over the purple grout in the bathroom. Both very unique hotels.

Feeling a bit tired from the travel day, and with Brad dislocating his toes the night before, we decided to enjoy dinner and a drink at the onsite bar, which was quite nice. We then relaxed in our massive room, in preparation for the next few big days ahead.Read more